What You Should Know:
Half of the healthcare administrative staff report seeing an increase in the amount of manual data entry in the past 12 months — and 92% of clinicians agree that too much time spent on administrative tasks is a major contributor to healthcare worker burnout. This and other findings are revealed in the new Internet of Healthcare Report, produced by independent research firm Wakefield Research on behalf of Olive. The report uncovers how 1,700 patients, healthcare professionals, administrative staff and executives view the healthcare patient and employee experience.
– The key findings of the report signals that these processes are in need of updating, not just to alleviate worker overload, but to deliver for patients. 91% of healthcare professionals agree that fixing the burden of time-intensive, manual administrative processes is the most important thing they can do to improve the quality of patient care.
Healthcare Must Adopt Automation to Keep Pace With Demands
The healthcare industry is among one of the top industries grappling with “The Great Resignation,” exacerbated by workers who are in desperate need of support both due to the pandemic and to ballooning administrative loads. At the same time, 93% of healthcare professionals believe applying automation to remedy these processes will be good for their careers. 78% of administrative staff agree, with nearly half (49%) of C-level healthcare executives fearing that employee turnover will be the most likely consequence of their organization not automating in the next one to two years.
“The healthcare industry deserves the automation that so many other industries have already experienced to empower it to function at its best, ultimately creating a new health experience for humans. For far too long healthcare workers have completed the same mundane administrative tasks over and over, and patients have shared the same information time and time again,” said Jeremy Friese, President, Payer Market at Olive. “The Internet of Healthcare Report reveals that across the healthcare industry, workers and patients — rather than running from change — want to run towards it to improve their jobs, the patient experience and ultimately, their health. This is the only industry to still largely rely on fax machines. The need for change is painfully obvious.”
Other key findings of the report include:
– Patients are done with filling out forms: Patients are having to constantly repeat the same information (55%), be the one to inform healthcare professionals of medications other physicians have prescribed (40%) and deal with delays in treatment due to insurance review processes (51%). And, this lack of integrated healthcare systems is taking a toll on patients’ health: 57% agree that having their medical history easily accessible to any healthcare provider they see would do the most to improve their health outcomes.
– Manual processes lead to errors: Due to disjointed systems, administrative staff suspect an average of 21% of patient records have at least one error, including 48% who suspect 20% or more of their records contain at least one error, if not multiple errors.
– The lack of intelligence is impacting patient care: Misdiagnosis can be a patient’s worst nightmare, delaying the care they need, or worse — AI’s chance to prevent this outcome is perhaps its greatest attribute. Many clinicians (40%) predict AI will decrease the risk of incorrect patient diagnosis. On top of this, healthcare executives think their staff could get over 90 minutes back a day to spend with patients through automation.
– Healthcare will leapfrog other industries in innovation: While healthcare has historically lagged in innovation, it will soon lead. Nearly 8 in 10 healthcare executives believe the industry will emerge as a leader. Virtually all healthcare professionals (98%) predict AI-led advancements to be widespread throughout U.S. healthcare by 2026. While executives are optimistic, patients remain skeptical, with only 25% believing healthcare will become a leader in innovation. However, executives predict that AI-led advancements will include fully automated data entry (58%), patient access to medical records from anywhere (56%) and virtual visits/remote monitoring (52%) becoming the norm.
Report Background/Methodology
The survey was conducted by Wakefield Research online between July 2 and July 14, 2021, and included 200 Healthcare Provider/Payer C-Level Executives; 250 Healthcare Professionals, with qualifying roles of physicians, specialists, registered nurses (RNs), nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician assistants (PAs); 250 Non-Clinical Administrative Staff who are working in patient care environments such as hospitals, clinics, and medical practices; and a nationally-representative audience of 1,000 U.S. adults aged 18+.
